Maggette says he could be willing to take pay cut to come to Boston

[timepiece33]

Clearly you must expect a significant dropoff if he leaves. I was just trying to gauge how far you expect us to fall.

I don't believe we win this years NBA championship if you replace James Posey with James Jones or Matt Barnes.  That makes him an important piece to the equation.  Certainly not the most important, but an important piece nonetheless.   

If we lose Posey, do I see us as one of the best teams in the league still?  Yes.  Do I see us winning the championship again?  It is going to be tough unless we amply replace components.

Because it would be practically impossible to improve on PJ Brown, right?

There is this thing called the cap.   We have the MLE, LLE, Minimum Contracts, Non Birds Rights on Eddie House, and the ability to sign Tony Allen.   

Sure, there are better players available ... we have a composition that we can realistically acquire via free agency. 

While it is easy to talk in generalities, I just don't believe you can come up with a better bench with the current FA list if you exclude Posey and Maggette.

[Evantime34]

Clearly you must expect a significant dropoff if he leaves. I was just trying to gauge how far you expect us to fall.

I don't believe we win this years NBA championship if you replace James Posey with James Jones or Matt Barnes.  That makes him an important piece to the equation.  Certainly not the most important, but an important piece nonetheless.   

If we lose Posey, do I see us as one of the best teams in the league still?  Yes.  Do I see us winning the championship again?  It is going to be tough unless we amply replace components.

Because it would be practically impossible to improve on PJ Brown, right?

There is this thing called the cap.   We have the MLE, LLE, Minimum Contracts, Non Birds Rights on Eddie House, and the ability to sign Tony Allen.   

Sure, there are better players available ... we have a composition that we can realistically acquire via free agency. 

While it is easy to talk in generalities, I just don't believe you can come up with a better bench with the current FA list if you exclude Posey and Maggette.

If we don't sign Posey or Maggette then I believe we will use the MLE on a big man. So we should have a drop off at Posey's position but a huge increase in our back up big spot.

[BballTim]

There is this thing called the cap.   We have the MLE, LLE, Minimum Contracts, Non Birds Rights on Eddie House, and the ability to sign Tony Allen.   

Sure, there are better players available ... we have a composition that we can realistically acquire via free agency. 

While it is easy to talk in generalities, I just don't believe you can come up with a better bench with the current FA list if you exclude Posey and Maggette.

  I'd go with maybe Theo and Alonzo to replace PJ and Pollard, Jason Williams over Cassell, and Micheal Finley over Posey. IMO that's a clear improvement over what we have. Will we get all of them? No. Will we get any of them? Who knows? You don't want to talk in generalities, but right now it's impossible to talk in specifics.

  But will we bring in players better than Pollard and PJ? It's pretty likely. Will we sign an upgrade over Cassell? I'd say so. Will upgrading our bench at other spots cut into Posey's role if he returns? It's pretty likely. Will the improvement over Pollard and PJ and Cassell make up for what we'd lose without Posey or Maggette? It very well could.

[timepiece33]

I'd go with maybe Theo and Alonzo to replace PJ and Pollard, Jason Williams over Cassell, and Micheal Finley over Posey. IMO that's a clear improvement over what we have. Will we get all of them? No. Will we get any of them? Who knows? You don't want to talk in generalities, but right now it's impossible to talk in specifics.

Mourning has expressed an interest in playing anywhere but Miami? Since when?   Also have serious reservations that we have the cap positions to make a play for all 4. 

I do believe you could get Jason Williams, Michael Finley, and Theo potentially (though Ratliff seemed to take getting traded away from Boston personally) for the available cap spots.   I question whether that is better than Cassell, Posey, and PJ.

Personally, I hope we end up with Posey, Anderson, and Williams.

[timepiece33]

If we don't sign Posey or Maggette then I believe we will use the MLE on a big man. So we should have a drop off at Posey's position but a huge increase in our back up big spot.

Your options would be:

Kurt Thomas
Kwame Brown
Nenad Kristic
Francisco Elson
Jamaal Magloire
David Harrison

[incoherent]

Maggette said Rivers, his fellow Chicago native, called Wednesday.

"We shot the breeze," said Maggette. "He asked about my family. My mom went to the same high school [as Rivers]. My family has known his family for a long time. I'm very comfortable with him."

and

Maggette was a teammate of Celtics free agent guard Sam Cassell with the Clippers from 2005-08. They recently shared some Celtics talk.

"He said to come out to get a ring," Maggette said.

[cordobes]

During the free agency season, there are some rules that I, as a fan, consider indispensable to follow. The first of them is a truly ironclad one: don't give a [dang] about what free agents tell to newspapers. I don't even care to read the quotes. They love all cities with a NBA franchise, may them be big, small, with good weather, bad weather, in the West, North, South or East, rural or cosmopolitan, and for all these reasons; they want to play for a winning team in a day and they want to be part of a turnaround in the next one; they want to play with a gifted point guard in east coast newspaper and with a dominant big in a west coast newspaper; they want a chance to start today and they are willing to contribute from the bench tomorrow; they would be honored to play for a storied franchise now and flattered to play for a expansion team a few moments later; they love all coaches and every possible playing style in the NBA would suit them perfectly - slow paced, fast paced, offensively focused, defensive and they suddenly discover their extreme versatility and that they can play at least 3 positions. Wasn't Doc a big reason why Maggette was traded from Orlando, btw? If the Sixers or the Warriors offer him a big contract, there's where he's going to play.

[cordobes]

If we don't sign Posey or Maggette then I believe we will use the MLE on a big man. So we should have a drop off at Posey's position but a huge increase in our back up big spot.

Your options would be:

Kurt Thomas
Kwame Brown
Nenad Kristic
Francisco Elson
Jamaal Magloire
David Harrison

Krstic is not going to happen, as he'll require a high salary and we have to address other needs - including a defensive backup center even if we sign Krstic. Except Thomas, all those guys are a downgrade from PJ Brown. 

IMO, our priority is clearly a wing elite defender. That's the big hole in our roster right now, and it's a very important position in the NBA. We need a guy to rotate with Ray and Paul that is able to guard the opponent's best player, allowing one of them to be resting in the bench and the other to defend a lesser player and be more effective and active in the offensive end. Wing defense is a very big part of winning championships. Lack of wing defense is a very big part of losing them. Just ask the Lakers - they couldn't assign Kobe to guard Pierce or Ray to protect him from wearing out and they payed the price.

[BballTim]

I'd go with maybe Theo and Alonzo to replace PJ and Pollard, Jason Williams over Cassell, and Micheal Finley over Posey. IMO that's a clear improvement over what we have. Will we get all of them? No. Will we get any of them? Who knows? You don't want to talk in generalities, but right now it's impossible to talk in specifics.

Mourning has expressed an interest in playing anywhere but Miami? Since when?   Also have serious reservations that we have the cap positions to make a play for all 4. 

I do believe you could get Jason Williams, Michael Finley, and Theo potentially (though Ratliff seemed to take getting traded away from Boston personally) for the available cap spots.   I question whether that is better than Cassell, Posey, and PJ.

Personally, I hope we end up with Posey, Anderson, and Williams.

  Again, it's silly to haggle over individuals like this. Add Elson or even PJ to Theo, Williams and Finley and it's at least as good as Posey, Cassell and Pollard (and PJ)if not better. Posey's a good 6th man, but it's not like he's Kevin McHale.

[earl]

Fitting into the system or not (defensively and offensively) is 100% mental IMO. As long as Maggette is willing to accept a role and put team first, there would be no problem.

I agree with pretty much everything you said except what I quoted right here. Fitting into a system is not 100% mental. A slow lumbering center doesn't fit into Golden States system. Just like a slight fast center doesn't fit into Utah's system. A slasher doesn't really fit into Jim O'brien's system he wants three point shooters.

Other than that small point what you said was completely correct and I could not agree more.

To be completely honest with you guys, I don't think that the Celtics current offensive system is that much different than the system O'Brien ran.  The big difference right now is that the C's have vastly superior players now.  While I realize I'm over generalizing with that statement, this much at least holds true: in both systems spreading the floor to allow the stars of the team to take defensive players 1 on 1 was key. 

That's why I worry about Maggette.  I don't know if he shoots well enough to fit in here.  He improved last year, shooting a career best 38% from beyond the arc, on par with Posey.  However, in nearly 36 mpg he took only 203 three pointers.  Posey on the other hand, took 279 three pointers in only 25 mpg.  Eddie House only averaged 19 mpg, but took 298 three pointers. 

I think that is short sighted, why would we ask Maggette to be a spot up shooter? Sure, Posey brings that element of the game, but in general Maggette is a much better scorer than Posey. This offense is more about taking advantage of the players we have vs. running a specific kind of set (i.e., 3pt shots). It's much different from looking at something like Obie ball, or the triangle and making an assessment of whether a certain player would fit in.

I don't know, to me, the fact that Maggette takes less 3 pointers is a huge plus in that he brings an offensive weapon this team does not have much of outside of Pierce. How devastating would this team have been if TA had developed this season and turned into a 10-15ppg bench scorer? That would have really opened things up (for Posey, House, etc.) and a lot of games would have ended in the 2nd quarter. Maggette could bring that element the C's are missing, and definitely more production than TA would be capable of.

You'd probably still want another specialist guy off the bench, but I think a bench based on something like Maggette/House (or some other specialist shooter) would be much more dangerous than what we had centered around Posey/House.

[cordobes]

I'd go with maybe Theo and Alonzo to replace PJ and Pollard, Jason Williams over Cassell, and Micheal Finley over Posey. IMO that's a clear improvement over what we have. Will we get all of them? No. Will we get any of them? Who knows? You don't want to talk in generalities, but right now it's impossible to talk in specifics.

Mourning has expressed an interest in playing anywhere but Miami? Since when?   Also have serious reservations that we have the cap positions to make a play for all 4. 

I do believe you could get Jason Williams, Michael Finley, and Theo potentially (though Ratliff seemed to take getting traded away from Boston personally) for the available cap spots.   I question whether that is better than Cassell, Posey, and PJ.

Personally, I hope we end up with Posey, Anderson, and Williams.

  Again, it's silly to haggle over individuals like this. Add Elson or even PJ to Theo, Williams and Finley and it's at least as good as Posey, Cassell and Pollard (and PJ)if not better. Posey's a good 6th man, but it's not like he's Kevin McHale.

Allow me to dispute this. I'm not questioning the quality of the players, individually considered, but I don't think that's a proper way of building a roster. I believe one should identify the needs and then find role-players that are able to fill them. For instances, why add Elson to Theo? And what can Jason Williams and Finley do for us? Who would give us perimeter and wing defense? Williams can't defend, he's worse than a 39 years old Cassell, neither can Finley anymore (one of the reasons Pop is ready to dump him). With that bench, who we have that can handle the toughest defensive assignments to give a rest to our starters? 

[cordobes]

Fitting into the system or not (defensively and offensively) is 100% mental IMO. As long as Maggette is willing to accept a role and put team first, there would be no problem.

I agree with pretty much everything you said except what I quoted right here. Fitting into a system is not 100% mental. A slow lumbering center doesn't fit into Golden States system. Just like a slight fast center doesn't fit into Utah's system. A slasher doesn't really fit into Jim O'brien's system he wants three point shooters.

Other than that small point what you said was completely correct and I could not agree more.

To be completely honest with you guys, I don't think that the Celtics current offensive system is that much different than the system O'Brien ran.  The big difference right now is that the C's have vastly superior players now.  While I realize I'm over generalizing with that statement, this much at least holds true: in both systems spreading the floor to allow the stars of the team to take defensive players 1 on 1 was key. 

That's why I worry about Maggette.  I don't know if he shoots well enough to fit in here.  He improved last year, shooting a career best 38% from beyond the arc, on par with Posey.  However, in nearly 36 mpg he took only 203 three pointers.  Posey on the other hand, took 279 three pointers in only 25 mpg.  Eddie House only averaged 19 mpg, but took 298 three pointers. 

I think that is short sighted, why would we ask Maggette to be a spot up shooter? Sure, Posey brings that element of the game, but in general Maggette is a much better scorer than Posey. This offense is more about taking advantage of the players we have vs. running a specific kind of set (i.e., 3pt shots). It's much different from looking at something like Obie ball, or the triangle and making an assessment of whether a certain player would fit in.

I don't know, to me, the fact that Maggette takes less 3 pointers is a huge plus in that he brings an offensive weapon this team does not have much of outside of Pierce. How devastating would this team have been if TA had developed this season and turned into a 10-15ppg bench scorer? That would have really opened things up (for Posey, House, etc.) and a lot of games would have ended in the 2nd quarter. Maggette could bring that element the C's are missing, and definitely more production than TA would be capable of.

You'd probably still want another specialist guy off the bench, but I think a bench based on something like Maggette/House (or some other specialist shooter) would be much more dangerous than what we had centered around Posey/House.

More dangerous to other teams but maybe even more dangerous for us. 1. Maggette is a poor defender. It's the defense that fuels an efficient offense. 2. Maggette would need to get touches. Who are you taking shots from? Ray, Pierce, Garnett? Maggette would mostly be a 3rd option to score. 3. Outside shooters are important not only, or not even mainly, because of what they score but due to the spacing they provide. 4. Some players can get their game going without many shots, but probably that's not the case with Maggette. He's a player who has to dominate the ball to be effective, he's a high usage rate guy. Can he be effective doing less? Is this the kind of player you want to be your 3rd scoring option, a prototypical scorer? 

[timepiece33]

Again, it's silly to haggle over individuals like this. Add Elson or even PJ to Theo, Williams and Finley and it's at least as good as Posey, Cassell and Pollard (and PJ)if not better. Posey's a good 6th man, but it's not like he's Kevin McHale.

You can argue that it's silly to haggle over individuals if you showed individuals that were an improvement.  So far, your better bench looks like a wash outside of the pretty significant discrepancy between Finley and Posey.

Sure, it's feasible that we could improve our bench.  Unfortunately, I believe that Posey is a consideration in that "bench".   

As a Celtic fan, I hope that the relationship with Rivers is ENOUGH for Maggette to choose an inferior scenario for him.

[rondohondo]

Not sure if this was posted already so sorry if it was, but on Sports Center they said that Maggette has talked to Doc and is seriously considering the Celtics. He also said he would have no problem coming off the bench .

[timepiece33]

Not sure if this was posted already so sorry if it was, but on Sports Center they said they Maggette has talked to Doc and is seriously considering the Celtics. He also said he would have no problem coming off the bench .

This would be the single best thing to happen for the Celtics in the long term if Doc can convince him.